Mimic Exploding tile with Pin to Start and Folder

If you ever need quick access to something , Pin to Start in a very much the feature you seek . After seeing the exploding tile video , I thought it was unneccessary since Pin to start feature is there already , and with Folder , you can pretty much mimic it without the "3D touch tech" and no hover. Say for contacts , you can pin favorite individual contact into start and group them with the Phone tile for an Exploding experience Same for browser with support for pin to start website ( IE , Edge ) . Or music app like Groove which allows pinning of playlist , album into start . Sure it will cause some cluster , too much for my taste , but what about your ?

If you ever need quick access to something , Pin to Start in a very much the feature you seek . After seeing the exploding tile video , I thought it was unneccessary since Pin to start feature is there already , and with Folder , you can pretty much mimic it without the "3D touch tech" and no hover.
Say for contacts , you can pin favorite individual contact into start and group them with the Phone tile for an Exploding experience
Same for browser with support for pin to start website ( IE , Edge ) . Or music app like Groove which allows pinning of playlist , album into start .
Sure it will cause some cluster , too much for my taste , but what about your ?

you're kind of right about this, it does pretty much the same work. The thing is the exploding live tile at the time it was thought of was pretty unique and futuristic. It still is but I guess now it would need some improvements and added features

I think you are getting the functionality partially wrong. The exploding tiles feature was more for developers to configure their apps for quick tasks without opening the app, similar to how 3D touch is implemented on iOS. It gave the developed more control on which feature to enable on the start screen on user action. For example, this feature on Facebook could have given you couple of options like quick check-in, latest feed, go to messages, go to a favorite contact, etc. On messages it could have given you options like, quick reply to last message, or quick compose new message, etc.

I think you are getting the functionality partially wrong. The exploding tiles feature was more for developers to configure their apps for quick tasks without opening the app, similar to how 3D touch is implemented on iOS. It gave the developed more control on which feature to enable on the start screen on user action. For example, this feature on Facebook could have given you couple of options like quick check-in, latest feed, go to messages, go to a favorite contact, etc. On messages it could have given you options like, quick reply to last message, or quick compose new message, etc.

Oh I get it . But it is still a fun way to jump into app section without opening app .

Yes same functionality Apple has been using on the iPhone 6S for marketing, and it worked. Many many apps have been updated with the functionality so far. It could have also been expanded in various other ways on WM..well we won't ever know now.

I have grouped just similar stuff (cameras, maps, etceteras) into folders, but this kind of contextual grouping with different tile sizes is something I never thought of :)

But folders are terrible user experience as they are now. When they open, all folder content is not guaranteed to be visible. When folder is open, there is no proper UI hint what is folder content and what is not.

How it should IMO work: When folder is opened, current start screen fades away. Folder content is exploded from folder tile to full size on top of the faded background keeping all edges within screen (exception: bottom can go beyond screen to keep top within screen, but size of a folder maybe should be less than one entire screen). Tap back button or faded background to close the folder (there could also be an x on one edge of the fade.

Tiles moved to a folder: like now, drop onto one. Remove from folder: drag to faded background. Move/change size within folder: long press. No magic required :) And yes, I have proposed this in feedback app ;)